The alarm has not even gone off yet, but his hand is already reaching for the phone. At the top of the chat with Tom2036, there is a fresh image.
Tommy snorts into his pillow.
“Again with the riddles,” he mutters.
Tom2036 always sends something strange in the mornings — a meme, a riddle, an incomprehensible phrase. A hello from his future self, that is his style. Trying to guess the meaning is a task and a half.
Tommy swiped with a finger — the image slid up. A bicycle with a rocket, funny enough, and fine. The day ahead is far more interesting: yesterday he saw for the first time how AI assembled a working game for him from a single phrase. He wants more. He throws off the blanket and goes to get ready.
At work, Tony intercepts him. And for the first time — not with “let’s try AI, it’s cool, right?” but straight out, to his face:
“Listen. I started something here and I want you to understand what you’ve gotten yourself into. The question is simple. Could a newcomer with almost no background, but with this AI tool, keep up with someone who is about five years more experienced? You see what I mean? Not ‘play around.’ Prove it for real.”
The corner of Tommy’s mouth twitched. Not doubt — excitement. “Keep up with someone who is five years more experienced” — hell, he practically does that every day: nods here, paraphrases beautifully there, and passes for one of them. And now there is extra backup on top of that. In his head, he is already picturing it: he, a greenhorn, wiping the floor with an entire floor full of seasoned pros.
“I suggested this to the people upstairs. They did not believe me. Said it was nonsense, that kind of thing does not happen, experience cannot be replaced by anything. They refused even to try. But I need someone who will quietly prove that they are wrong.”
Tony fell silent for a second, and something hard passed across his face, something not from this conversation.
“I have already seen how it ends when the smart guys spend years polishing an ideal,” he says, as if to himself. “While they were bringing it to a shine, others shipped something rough, but on time — and took everything. So I have already heard the ‘experience cannot be replaced’ song. It cost me dearly.”
And then — back to a businesslike tone, as if nothing had happened. Tommy thought:
Outdoing the bores who stick their noses up is his favorite game, so he was fired up right away. But Tony is looking at him in such a way that it becomes clear: this is not chest-thumping in the break room. Tommy is not an intern with a toy in this story. He is a piece Tony has already put on the table in front of his strongest developers, and they laughed at him.
If it works out, Tony wins, and the AI tool really does change the rules. If it does not, the people upstairs are right, and Tommy will be the first one they point at: see, the newbie, just as expected. Tony does not pressure him, does not threaten him. He just puts it in front of him and waits. And somewhere a small doubt appears: what if I really cannot pull this off?
“So here is your real task.” Tony does not drag it out. “Landing page. Not some huge product, a simple page for one specific item. Header, a couple of blocks, the hero section, a button. Deadline — the end of the week.”
“The end of the week — that is plenty of time,” Tommy figures. “Could get it done without even sweating, and still make it look good, like I really sweated over it.” But spare time is spare time, and this does not sound like yesterday’s clicker. He made the clicker for himself and for laughs: if it came out crooked, he laughed and forgot about it. But here his work will be evaluated. Tony, who assigned it. And the client, whom Tommy has never seen, but to whom he will show the page. It can’t be sloppy anymore.
Tony turns to leave and tosses over his shoulder:
“If you manage it, consider your internship done.”
And that is it. What will happen if he does not manage it, he does not say. Not to scare him — he just leaves it hanging. And that unsaid second half hooks him more strongly than any threat: if “manage it — passed,” then after that it is up to him. Tommy stands there and catches how the task from “would be cool” has right now turned into “must.”
Left alone, Tommy sits down at his desk — and stumbles not even on the landing page itself, but on WHERE to build it.
He did not join this team as a junior who spent years grinding algorithms. He came in from the side: admin panel testing, copy, spreadsheets, small fixes — fill it in, tweak it, export it. Always around development, but never inside it. A real developer environment, with a dozen panels, is unfamiliar territory to him. He has never worked there.
Yesterday everything was simple: open a panel in the browser, describe it in words — get a game. The panel did not ask him anything and did not demand anything from him. But since yesterday evening, that very real development environment has been sitting on his computer — the installer did its job, the icon is in place. Tommy has not opened it once since then.
Cranking out toys in a browser is one thing. Climbing in for real, into the place where those very pros sit who do not believe in him, is another.
“Opening it and starting to work is kind of like announcing: I am not some random guy here; I have a right to be here,” Tommy thinks, and his finger itself drags the cursor farther away from the unfamiliar icon. That is exactly the right he is not sure about. It is easier to stay in the familiar panel and not stick his neck out. The only problem is that you can’t really build a landing page in it.
Tony seems to understand this without words. Before he leaves for good, he tosses out:
“And listen. Yesterday you were cranking out toys in a browser — a browser will do for toys. But this is work, not fun: a landing page needs a proper environment. You already have it installed, right? Good. I will tell Oliver to show you what is what there. I am not going to get into your IDEs anymore — not my thing.” He waves it off easily, without a trace of shame, as if that is even a plus. “I do not care what you write it in. What matters to me is what will be on the screen and whether we can show it to the client. The rest is your concern.”
Browser panel and development environment: in the browser — toys for yourself, if it comes out crooked you laugh and forget it, you type in the chat and get a result, it asks nothing of you; in the development environment — work for the client, crooked is no longer okay, a project with files and panels, you have to get used to it — someone will show you what is what Toys in the browser, work in the development environment Browser panel Development environment What for Toys for yourself Work for the client If it comes out crooked Laugh and forget it Crooked won’t do — the work gets judged How it works Chat window: type it — get it Project: files, panels, tools What it asks of you Nothing — just type Get used to it — you’ll be shown aroundOliver will be there. That means he will not have to poke around blindly and pretend he understands.
Tommy exhales. Two things in one morning: the landing page that will decide whether he passes the internship or not — and the move into a proper environment, because he will not be able to build this landing page in a browser panel. The program is installed, but what to do with it — he has no idea.